The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1887-02-18

4
fifteen miles away, and he had four
DAYS the start of me. The first move
was to run out to the country station at
which he had taken the train. I there
found that he had made many inquiries
about the northern and western part of
the State, and had finally purchased
ticket for Fond du Lac. The description
of him was good, and was about to
| buy a ticket for the same place and take
a train due in half an hour, when in
came a boy who had been there on the
evening when Lane bought his ticket
He was q lad who helped around the
station, and it was plain that he had
good deal of native wit.
ayes, that chap bought a ticket for
Fond du Lac, but I don't think he went
| there replied the lad when 1 began to
question him.
''What makes you think he did not?"
because, - he answered, as he hand
ed down a folder from the rack, she
was studying this route, which goes to
Portage City. I think he meant to take
this folder along, but dropped it. See
how he has marked it with pencil"
So he had. He could run up to Water
town and 60 through by way of Beaver
Dam. He had marked the time of ar
rival at the junction and of the arrival
at Portage, and it could not be that he
would take all that trouble to throw
any one of his trail. There was no one
after him, and he could not argue that
the boy would hold the marked folder
against him. I therefore changed my
route to Portage City, and at the juno
ton got track of my man. He had no
ticket, but had paid his fare in cash. 1t
was night and the state of his hair had
not been noticed, but the conductor
described Lanes general appearance
and said that he had changed a twenty
dollar bill for him. He might go no
further than Beaver Dam, and got off
there and looked around for few
hours. No trace of him had been had,
and Twas at the depot to take the train,
when a conversation between two young
men became interesting.
'YOu ought to have told some body"
protested one.
eyes, and been laughed at, replied
the other.
''And he had ten thousand dollarsP'
Eyes, double that. -
"And he was counting it on the
bedP''
YES"
''May be, but he was off early in the
morning. Well, so long, Tom-here's
the train"
The one who had seen some one count
ing money was going west by my
] i oh 20, ],
him and draw him out He was a
porter at one of the hotels in Portage,
and he had seen n guest answering
Lanes description counting such a lot
of money that it covered half the bed.
The porter had made his observations
through the keyhole of the door, and,
being ashamed of himself, had hesitated
to go to the landlord. The man had
arrived without baggage, but had there
purchased a valise, and his nervous
manner and the sight of so much money
in his possession had led the porter to
finally conclude that there was mys-
terry there somewhere, although he had
not spoken of it to any around the house.
The man had purchased a suit of coarse
clothes, with hat and shoes to match,
!
leading toward Oshkosh. He had pur-
chased another bottle of hair dye in
Portage, but had apparently given his
red hair up as a bad job. He not only
left the bottle in his room, but by
means of soap and water washed off
what dye he had put on at Milwaukee.
Lane had given the landlord to I'M
derstand that he was a Woodworking
young man who had started out to look
for a job, but he had departed without
fixing on any thing definite. did not
believe he would go to Oshkosh. He
was acting like q man who reasoned
that if he could hide himself away in
the country for a few weeks his crime
and his identity would both be forgot
ten. To catch the embezzler without
capturing his swag would have been no
credit to me. He had several days the
start of me, and had by this time got a
Job of some sort. IprOcured a rough suit
of clothes, hired horse and set off on
his trail. AS he had gone on foot with
, a large.valise in his hand it was easy to
hear of him along the road. He headed
toward Oshkosh for five or six miles,
and then turned directly north. 1t was
in the fall of the year, and the roads
were in bad condition, but he made
twenty-fOur miles that first day, not
stopping at all for dinner. He went
to the northeast for six miles, to
the north for ten miles, and then
he turned due west, almost on a
line with La Crosse, and went eight
! miles before stopping at an inn.
! only made the same number of miles
r on horseback, but as he had to lie by
t the next forenoon on account of the
) rain, while I had good weather, I
gained half a day on him. He pro-
/ ceeded toward La Crosse for ten miles
| more, and then went north two miles,
| and stayed overnight with a farmer
= and talked about going to work in a
f saw mill. Next day he headed due
t west, and reached the Wisconsin river
t at a hamlet called Little Bend. 1t
{ was on the sixth day after he left
Milwaukee that located him, and he
had then been at work in a saw mill
t for day and a half I entered the
D hamlet on foot, as he had done, hav-
ing a few extra clothes in a bundle,
5 and it was soon known to the seventy
? five or eighty population that I was
, in search of work The owner of the
= only store in the place also kept a
saloon and tavern, and, under pre-
: tense of being footsore and used up,
] remained idle for two or three DAYS,
? although the mill owner was short of
S hands and desired me to 60 to work at